


Dance of Deceit

by meakashi



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Angst, Bitterness, Canon Compliant, Gen, Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:21:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25715743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meakashi/pseuds/meakashi
Summary: Ignoring the nighttime rule, Celeste catches Sayaka in the act of something sinister, and realizes just how much they have in common.It infuriates her.
Relationships: Celestia Ludenberg & Maizono Sayaka, Celestia Ludenberg/Maizono Sayaka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 19





	Dance of Deceit

**Author's Note:**

> There is no good canon interaction between Celeste and Sayaka and I’m here to fix that. Remember, this isn’t meant as a shipping fic, just a dive into their dynamic

This is what _had_ to be done. It was a tragedy things had to end this way. She wonder how he perceived her up until the very end. Did he really think she trusted him, after everything she saw? Did he think she was naive enough to think she believed his empty promises to protect her? 

There was a time when she believed in him, and she thinks of herself as a fool for it now. The motive video changed everything. 

She didn’t hate him - in fact, he stood out to her, a light in the darkness, a glimmer of hope. That was temporary, as most things were. As soon as the motive videos were presented, real or not… she knew she had to get out of there. If someone’s blood must be spilled for that to happen, so be it.

Makoto was dim-witted, far too trusting and naive. He was the _perfect_ choice.

It wasn’t a horribly long time until Leon would come, so she decided to set the scene and prepare for his inevitable demise. He was foolish, haughty - someone like him wouldn’t last anyway. Whatever lousy justifications she gave it, she was still orchestrating a murder, an immoral and irreversible deed. She was willing to go that far, if it meant her dream stayed within her grasp. She refused to let go of it even for a second. It was a shame, really, but she couldn’t afford to shed a tear for Makoto. He was nothing but a stepping stone to be used to escape this awful situation.   
  


Maybe if things were different, they could’ve been friends. He could’ve helped her. He was safe, genuine - she shook her head. These thoughts weren’t worthwhile. It didn’t matter what could have been different now. If things had been different, if they had been different... 

She gently opened her door, peering in all directions of the halls. Celestia had forbad the others from leaving, but given she follow that rule too - what could she do to stop them? She couldn’t execute anyone. She had no power and surely someone like her would know that. Yet… she shook her head. All she had to do was kill him, and then everything would be over. 

Sakura had previously mentioned the walls being soundproof, so it didn’t matter if she did make a little noise. The nameplate rattled as she took hers off, standing outside Makoto’s door. She pulled his off, and held it in her free hand. Just as she was fixing hers in his spot, she was interrupted. 

“My oh my,” a feminine voice with a heavy accent echoed through the otherwise empty halls. “Maizono-san? What brings you out here?”

Stricken with panic, she turned around, a gut feeling telling her that one of - not the worst case scenario, but someone who’d see right through her and she knew it well. Sure enough, it was the gambler with the piercing eyes and sinister smirk filled to the brim with secrets - the silence they shared as they stared at each other, only made their secrets echo louder.

“Maizono-san?” She repeated, her eyes wide with inquiry. Sayaka clenched her fist behind her back, her short nails digging into her delicate skin. Celeste gave her infamous smirk, one she surely used as she stripped the reckless of their wealth in crushing defeats, the thing that’s earned her all her fame to begin with. “I recall proposing… no, enforcing a strict rule that really isn’t all that hard to follow,” she said in an almost taunting voice. She slowly approached the idol until her back was against the wall. In a state of shock, her grip loosened, and the gambler snatched the room plates from her hand, her pointed metal ring clicking against their hard surface.

“Hey,” Sayaka inquired, carefully choosing her words. “Why do you want that - I mean - there’s nothing you have to gain from taking them… Makoto and I switched, so for our safety-”

Celeste has had enough. “Silence,” she interrupted, her eyes narrowing. “I know you’re planning a murder.”

Sayaka froze. She had a feeling that Celestia would inevitably see through her, but when she cut straight to the point, it caught her off guard. “Oh? So you assume I’m planning to do something bad,” she remarked, batting her eyelashes innocently, “Yet you’re breaking your own rule.”

Celeste rolled her eyes, more amused than irritated. “I’d expect someone like you of all people to see through me. I have no intention of killing - and the night rule that everyone agrees with is just mere insurance.” She stared Maizono dead in the eyes.

The pop idol narrowed her eyes, trying to hide her uneasiness behind a mask of confusion. “Why in the world do you think I’d do something like that?”

Celeste rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sign and shook her head. “Give me a non-bullshit explanation for why you’re out right now, switching plates with Makoto, and why I had to tell Kuwata-kun to go back to his room?” She deadpanned, staring her down. “He insisted on continuing, so I had to send him back… much more forcefully than I would’ve wished,” she said, flashing a gentle, but aggressively tense grin. “He was headed straight for your room,” she added. “He was so focused that he neglected to even notice me - which says a lot, you know. I’m used to heads turning when I enter the room - so he must have been awfully invested in whatever buisness _you_ had with him.” She started walking towards Sayaka until she was once again against the wall, unable to move.

“Ah, Celes-chan, I think I’m just going to head back to bed! I’m sorry for our misunderstanding, but I don’t know anything about why Leon was lingering around here, especially at this hour!” She began to grow desperate to get out of this situation, her original intimidation for the gambler replaced with downright fear. “Besides… how do you know he was the victim… perhaps he was planning to kill someone else… I don’t even want to think our classmates would do that, but you can’t deny the dreadful possibility…”

Celeste released her from her grip, both irritated and amused. She saw herself in this girl - she hated it. She lied so smoothly, guilt free, and to get where she was? Celeste couldn’t even begin to imagine the disgraceful things the idol did to claw her way up to the top in an industry built on competition where it didn’t matter how good you were, you had to be better. You had to be the best, you had to come out on top over thousands who’d sacrifice their firstborns for what you have.

“Drop the act,” she demanded, her voice bitter. “I see right through you, Maizono. The two of us are one in the same.” 

Sayaka’s gaze darkened. “You take pride in your lies, am I correct? I’m not like you,” she insisted. “I do what I do out of passion. I fight for my dream, and it all pays off when I see the smiling faces of my fans..”

“You’re more cynical than you let on, so stop giving me that sappy junk,” the gambler told her, her eyes wide as she appeared to be staring into Maizono’s very soul. “You’re a liar too. You’d step on whoever you must, harm whoever you must with no regard if it means getting what you want. You say you have a dream, am I wrong?”

“Yeah, I have a dream, a life’s passion,” Sayaka told her. “I know I must never turn away, never take my eyes off my dream, or it could be lost. Just because we share a passion towards something doesn’t mean we’re the same.”

“You’re saying you’re a better person than me? Don’t make me laugh,” Celeste sneered. “Say - what was in your motive video? You can’t pursue that dream while you’re here, so sad! Every day you spend here is that dream getting farther and farther from your reach. You can’t afford to spend another day trapped here, let alone _the rest of your life._ Everything you’ve worked so hard for could be gone forever.”

Sayaka’s cheerful, innocent demeanor dropped to the floor. “Shut up,” she said, feeling herself grow angrier by the second. “Shut up! Shut up!” She cried out, taking short, gasping breaths, struggling to try and calm herself. 

Celeste laughed in her face, her expression twisting to one of sadism. Sayaka was a fraud, a fake, a liar, a cheat, hiding behind a fabricated persona - just like her, just like her, and it infuriated her. The more she spoke, the more Celeste wanted to bash her head in. It was like she was speaking to herself. 

She too, was desperate to escape. She knew that it wouldn’t be long before she snapped under the pressure. Sayaka was a mirror image of her own weakness, and she wanted to make her break down, insisting that she’s better than her sleazy ass. 

As Sayaka crouched to the floor, shaking with anger, Celeste maintained a calm composure, knowing that her unbothered facade would only infuriate the idol further, the fact that she was saying such things and not feelings a thing.

“So, you must kill,” she hissed, kneeling to meet the idol at eye level. “It’s better someone else than you - their lives are disposable, just another stepping stone on your road to glory, are they not? You’ll kill and feel nothing but relief.”

“You’re… you’re no different,” Sayaka said, pushing her back. Celeste felt herself grow angrier - how _dare_ she lay a finger on her! Sayaka wasn’t naive, just as Celeste said - she too saw right through the other girl. 

“That’s why you seem to hate me so much,” she said. “Like you said, we’re one in the same. You’re a fraud as well. You strip people of their wealth and glory, and take pleasure in it. You’re just as desperate as I am to get out of this hellhole. I bet… _I bet Celestia Ludenberg isn’t even your real name.”_

Celeste gave up on the unbothered facade - her face twisted into one of absolute fury. “How dare you speak to me like that, how fucking dare you… Get out of my sight, you unsightly cunt, you couldn’t even dream of being a D-rank!”

Sayaka uneasily walked back to “her” room. Before she disappeared behind the door, she left Celeste with chilling parting words. “And you insist those who can’t adapt won’t survive,” she said with a scoff. “We are not the same. You’re selfish, you don’t take others into consideration at all - I...” she paused. “I didn’t want to do this. Don’t you understand? I can’t... I wouldn’t be able to go through with it after all.”


End file.
